Relive Eichel’s best moments with the Knights with contract secured

By
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) celebrates with the Stanley Cup after winning the NHL hoc ...

Jack Eichel has built an extensive resume with the Golden Knights in less than four full seasons.

The 28-year-old, since being acquired in November 2021, has become a Stanley Cup champion and one of the best two-way centers in the NHL.

Eichel can now add another accolade: Highest-paid player in Knights history. He earned the title after signing an eight-year, $108 million contract with the franchise Wednesday.

Eichel has shown he’s worth every penny. He led the NHL in scoring his first playoff appearance and helped the Knights win their first championship. He scored a franchise record 94 points last season and finished fifth in the Hart Trophy voting for league MVP.

Eichel likely has more milestones ahead of him. But for now, here are the top five moments of his Knights career:

1. First goal since surgery

There were a lot of unknowns with Eichel when he first arrived.

The Buffalo Sabres, who selected him No. 2 overall in the 2015 draft, traded him in part because he wanted to undergo an artificial disk replacement to treat a neck injury. It was a surgery that had never been done on an NHL player before. The Sabres wanted Eichel, their captain from 2018 to 2021, to have a more traditional fusion procedure.

The Knights let him have his preferred operation after sending forwards Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs and two draft picks to Buffalo. Eichel was back on the ice in three months.

It didn’t take him long to make an impact. He scored his first goal in his third game with the Knights on Feb. 20, 2022, in a win over the San Jose Sharks.

Eichel finished with 14 goals and 25 points in 34 games after recovering from his surgery. The Knights missed the playoffs that season for the first and as of now only time, but his arrival changed the franchise forever.

2. Hat trick in Buffalo

Eichel was booed every time he touched the puck when he returned to Buffalo on March 10, 2022. The vitriol from Sabres fans was evident even during a tribute video that showed him visiting a children’s hospital.

To make matters worse, the Knights lost 3-1.

Eichel’s second trip back to KeyBank Center went a little better for him. He recorded a hat trick in the third period of a 7-4 Knights win Nov. 10, 2022. The victory extended the team’s winning streak to a franchise record nine games.

Eichel went to the glass and raised his arms to the Buffalo crowd after his first goal. He followed that up by scoring off the rush, before finishing his hat trick with an empty netter from 195 feet away.

It was an incredible performance during what turned out to be a memorable season for the Knights.

3. Team USA

Eichel, a native of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, got the opportunity to represent his country in a best-on-best international competition for the first time last season. He was a key part of Team USA’s silver medal-winning squad at February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, the first international competition featuring NHL players since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Eichel was the Americans’ top-line center and finished with four assists in four games. Team USA lost the gold medal game to Canada in overtime, but will have an opportunity for redemption at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Eichel was one of the first six players named to his country’s Olympic roster.

4. Off the floor, on the board

Eichel’s best playoff moment didn’t come from scoring a goal or making a great pass.

He simply got off the ice.

Eichel took a bone-chilling hit from Florida Panthers right wing Matthew Tkachuk late in the second period of Game 2 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. The hit was clean, but Eichel was slow to get up before skating off on his own power. Fans feared the worst.

Turns out, they shouldn’t have worried. Eichel returned for the third period like nothing happened. He carried the puck to the wall his first shift, drew two Panthers to him and then fired a pass to an open Jonathan Marchessault, who scored to put the Knights up 5-1.

Eichel said postgame he was fine and only had the wind knocked out of him.

5. Winning the Cup

Taking the hit was well worth it in the end. Eichel finished the series by hoisting the Stanley Cup.

He had six goals and 20 assists in 22 games that playoff run and finished second to Marchessault in the voting for the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.

Eichel showed he could dominate at both ends of the rink, even against the best teams the NHL had to offer. He proved he could win at the highest level.

Now he and the Knights will continue chasing Cups for the foreseeable future.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.

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